HISTORY OF WEST DENVER PREP
The need. Given current area achievement rates, a majority of students in west Denver, many who are students of color from low-income communities, will leave the eighth grade seriously behind in the critical basic skills of math, reading, and writing, and enter local high schools only to continue this trend.
West Denver Preparatory Charter School was established to help change this, and to provide another choice for parents and families. Led by founder, Chris Gibbons, the school was approved for a three-year charter from the Denver Board of Education in November, 2005, and opened its first middle school, the Federal Campus, in August 2006 with 100 students in 6th grade. Due to demand from families, in August 2009, we opened a second campus in Southwest Denver, Harvey Park, followed by two campuses in Northwest Denver in August, 2010, Lake and Highland.
The network now serves 1,110 students in grades 6-8 across four campuses and is home to four of the top seven public schools in Denver and the highest performing school in state for academic growth as measured by the Colorado Growth Model.
